(16 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 15 December 2024
1. Team of Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, unlocking door of documents storage room in prison
2. Various of workers going through documents
3. List with names of deceased detainees
4. Various of Civil Defense workers searching facility
5. Worker reading writing by detainees on wall
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Walid Aslan, head of unit with White Helmets:
"Our people are enduring a tragedy because they are missing their sons, whom they were expecting to be freed from prisons to live and feel the joy of victory after ousting the old regime from Syria. It remains a pain in their hearts. As you can see, we continue searching these prisons whenever we receive any reports."
7. Former prisoner Mahmoud Abdulbaki talking with Civil Defense volunteers
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud AbdulBaki, former prisoner:
"As soon as I got out, I immediately called the young men (rebels) I know through relatives, as well as the general security, the civil defense, and all relevant authorities to inform them (about the prisons). First, I informed them about and showed them the prisons in Mazzeh (a suburb of Damascus). There, we found some people, and some were freed. In Mazzeh, there is also a hidden prison that has yet to be uncovered."
9. Civil Defense volunteer searching for what they suspect to be an acid pool inside the prison
10. Mid of prison cells
11. Civil Defense member reading writing by detainees on wall
12. Abdulbaki inside detainees truck
13. Blankets and mattresses on the ground
14. Abdulbaki showing his mattress and pillow, UPSOUND (Arabic) "These were mine, I was here. I was the headman of the cell."
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Abdulbaki, former prisoner:
"I was in solitary confinement. There were also prisoners with me who had been there for 20 to 25 years. They had long hair. Then they transferred me from the Air Force Intelligence Department to the Judiciary, and later to Saydnaya (prison). In Saydnaya, the scenes were beyond comprehension—impossible to say there were human beings there. What we saw—killing, humiliation and torture—is indescribable."
16. Various of Civil Defense volunteers searching prion
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Abdulbaki, former prisoner:
"If you made any noise, it would be hell upon you. In every cell, there were three or four prisoners who had died from torture and beatings. Some had heart attacks from the torture, while others were beaten on the head so severely that their brains came out. We had to put the bodies in the toilets until the prison authorities came and asked if we had dead bodies to remove from the cells. This is honestly how we lived."
18. Various of volunteers with dog searching facility
19. Exterior of Air Force intelligence department building
STORYLINE:
As thousands of detainees were freed from Syria’s notorious prisons across the country after toppling Bashar Assad’s government last week, relatives are still searching for their beloved in the security branch centers hoping to find them or at least know their fate.
The new authorities in Damascus designated a hotline for people and ex-prisoners to identify locations and secret prisons that had been used by the Assad government in the hope to find any trace of missing persons.
A team of Syrian Civil Defense volunteers arrived at the Air Force intelligence branch in central Damascus_ a place notorious for holding detainees, a fact that Assad’s government never admitted.
Syria’s prisons have been infamous for their harsh conditions.
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